Oakland Spine News

Weekly Health Update—Chiropractic: Neck Pain Affects Breathing.

March 24, 2014

Mental Attitude: Have You Noticed Any Changes in Your Memory?Dr. Erin Abner of the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging asked 3,701 men ages 60 and up if they had noticed any changes in their memory since their last doctor visit. She found that the patients who reported on-going incidences of memory loss that affected their daily lives were more likely to be diagnosed with cognitive decline later in the years ahead. This finding could lead to earlier detection and perhaps more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s diseases and other conditions that affect cognitive function.University of Kentucky, February 2014

Health Alert: Half of All Cancer Deaths Could be Avoided!According to the World Health Organization (WHO), early detection could cut the worldwide cancer death rate in half. Experts note the leading preventable risk factors for cancer development are tobacco use, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, sedentary activity, unhealthy diet, sexually transmitted diseases, and air pollution. The WHO estimates cancer claimed 8.2 million lives in 2012.World Cancer Report, February 2014

Diet: Four Ways to Reduce Sugar in Your Diet!Here are four tips from the American Heart Association for reducing your added sugar intake: 1) Try putting less sugar on foods like cereals or in beverages like tea and coffee. When you’re used to it, try cutting back even more. 2) Buy fresh fruits or fruits canned in water, not syrup. 3) Instead of sugar, add fresh fruit or dried fruit to foods like oatmeal. 4) Add spices like cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg to foods instead of sugar.American Heart Association, February 2014

Exercise: Walking Decreases COPD Hospitalization Risk.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition that describes difficulty breathing due to long-term lung damage. New research shows that COPD sufferers can greatly reduce their risk of hospitalization with severe attacks by simply walking 3-6 kilometers (~1.8-3.6 miles) per day.Respirology, February 2014

Chiropractic: Neck Pain Affects Breathing.Researchers at the Technological Educational Institute of Lamia in Greece examined a group of chronic neck pain patients and a group of individuals with no previous incidence of neck pain to see if a correlation exists between neck pain and respiratory dysfunction. They found that neck pain sufferers have significantly reduced breathing capacity and lower respiratory muscle strength. They also noted a strong association between increased forward head posture and decreased respiratory muscle strength.Cephalalgia, July 2009

Wellness/Prevention: Prevent Divorce with Movies?For newlyweds, watching and then discussing movies about relationships appears to be just as effective at preventing divorce as more time and energy intensive counseling programs. Participants attended a ten-minute lecture on the importance of relationship awareness and how watching couples in movies could help them pay better attention to their own behavior. Then, they watched a movie and had a 12 question guided discussion with their spouse. During the following four weeks, they were asked to watch one movie each week from a prepared list of movies and conduct the same guided discussion afterwards. When researchers later compared the three-year divorce rates of couples in this group with couples who participated in either conflict management or compassion and acceptance training, they found each resulted in an 11% three-year divorce rate. The three-year divorce rate for a control group that participated in no interventions was 24%. According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Ronald Rogge, “The results suggest that husbands and wives have a pretty good sense of what they might be doing right and wrong in their relationships. Thus, you might not need to teach them a whole lot of skills to cut the divorce rate. You might just need to get them to think about how they are currently behaving. And for five movies to give us a benefit over three years—that is awesome.”Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, December 2013

Join Our Email List

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and offers from Oakland Spine and Physical Therapy.

* To qualify for same day guarantee, please call and mention our guarantee when requesting a same day appointment. Call must be received before 11am on normal days of operation. Offer may depend on type of care and insurance verification. If for some reason we cannot accommodate you on the day of your call, we will provide you with a gift card.